WHEELING, West Virginia – The Wheeling Nailers (1-0-0-0 preseason) rallied from an early third period deficit to defeat the Cincinnati Cyclones (0-1-0-0 preseason) by a 5-3 final score at WesBanco Arena on Friday night.

The Nailers opened the scoring just 1:37 into the first period when Stefano Momesso beat Cyclones goaltender Sam Brittain (ND, 14 saves) to take an early advantage. They would extend their cushion just as early into the middle stanza when Derek Army lit the lamp at 1:27 after receiving a feed from Tyler Fernandez. The Cyclones roared back with a pair of goals in a 2:01 span as David Pacan and Brian Nugent found the net to tie things at two. Despite several power play chances for both sides in the second period, the game remained deadlocked through 40 minutes.

The early-period offense continued in the third, this time for Cincinnati; just 14 seconds into the frame, Nugent netted his second goal of the game on a shorthanded opportunity to give the Cyclones their first lead of the night at 3-2. Unfortunately, the Nailers found the equalizer at 4:41 when Jarrett Burton recorded his first goal of the preseason, beating goaltender Joe Howe (L, 4 saves, 0-1-0-0 preseason). Then, with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, Army capitalized on a shorthanded chance to regain the lead for the home team at 4-3. Cincinnati fought to pull even again, but couldn’t beat Nailers netminder Jeff Wyler (W, 19 saves, 1-0-0-0 preseason) and Chaz Johnson sealed the win with an empty net goal at 19:26 to make it a 5-3 final score.

After an off-day tomorrow, the same two teams will reunite at WesBanco Arena for the preseason finale on Sunday evening at 5:05pm.

The Cyclones open the regular season on the road as they visit the Toledo Walleye on Saturday, October 18 at 7:15pm ET.

The countdown to the 2014-15 First Face-Off is nearly complete! The Cyclones will return for another season of hockey at U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday, October 25 when they play host to the Kalamazoo Wings at 7:30pm. Fans can also get the latest team updates throughout the offseason on Facebook and Twitter (@CincyCyclones).